Monday, 19 May 2008

The Blog's Birthday

My blog is one year old today. This seems quite incredible. On the one hand I'm pleased to have kept going with my blog and it is a nice record of the things I've done over the last twelve months. On the other hand. sometimes it feels like I've not covered half the things that have gone on and I'm surprised that I've kept going with it for this long. I'd love to be able to post more often, have better photographs, have funny anecdotes, but I guess no one is ever 100% happy with their blog, so what I have will have to do and hopefully, one day, it will improve. I must say that the colour scheme and layout I chose last year are decidedly dull now and maybe I need to get more technically smart and tart this thing up a little.

I have just had such a lovely weekend. On Saturday I went and walked the greyhounds, had a Spanish lesson and spent the afternoon at Mara's with a lovely group of knitters. One knitter in particular I had not seen for a while and it was great to see her and catch up. I really love knitting with other people and since I became a knitter, this has definitely been one of the best things about this hobby. I love seeking advice with other knitters, I like offering advice and expressing my opinions, I like discussing yarns and textures and stitches and colours and needles and there is never a lull in the conversation, whether it be knitting conversation or life conversation. However, I was overwhelmed this Saturday when Mara gave me this:

It is her very beautiful, very colourful, very neat, very soft, very stunning and very appreciated Clapotis scarf. I had seen this when it was only a baby a few weeks ago and loved it then and I still cannot believe she has given it to me. I was almost out of the house because I felt embarrassed accepting such a treasure, especially considering the work she has put in. All I can say is, thank you, Mara. Your scarf could not have ended up with a more appreciative recipient. I wore it all Saturday night and all day yesterday, despite the nice weather. I've already teamed it with other clothes I own and cannot wait for the winter when I'll be able to wear it all the time.

On Saturday night Ezzie and I went to the dogs and sold tip sheets to make money for the retired greyhounds. We had a really good time and did well. It was really nice going there because I've not been to the dogs for years. I always went as a child when we went to Blackpool and I loved it then, although there was one time when I was really sick after eating too much food and the sick was coming out of my nose as well as my mouth. It was really unpleasant and I remember it well because it burned my nose, but apart from that I've always loved it. We had a couple of bets ourselves but foolishly ignored the tips we'd been giving out. We won nothing, although Ezzie felt with my addictive personality this was the best outcome possible.

Yesterday I did more dog walking and went to the allotment afterwards. I saved a cat's life. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration but I found a cat looking awfully lost and crying. It was only young but it had a phone number on its collar so I 'phoned it and it was ages away from home and near a busy main road. Ezzie and I drove it to its home so we felt like superheroes. It wasn't injured or anything, but I was sure it would have been knocked down had we not intervened. The cat's mum was very pleased to see him again and she couldn't believe how far he had roamed.

In the afternoon I did some school work, knitting, spinning and dyeing wool. I have made good progress on the cardigan I hate. I've only a sleeve and some horrid sewing up to go now. I'm not posting a photo because I hate everything about this project and as soon as I have finished it, it will be blanked out from my own memory. It's taught me an invaluable lesson about knitting gifts. This is a present for someone to give to someone else. Does that make sense? The thing is, I don't really know the final recipient and I don't think she will appreciate it. In the future, I'm just knitting for people I know directly and wish to knit for.

I've spun some of the Blue Faced Leicester, but I really don't like the result. The spinning seems regular and like sock yarn, but when the two strands are plyed, the effect is rather insipid and I don't do insipid. The changes between blue and green are not vivid or different enough. I don't know whether to continue with this or to start something else.

I do have something else in the pipeline because I popped into Wingham's yesterday. It's only a stone's throw from the greyhound place so it makes perfect sense to do a little detour. I found a ten pound note in a pocket of my handbag which I had forgotten about, so I treated myself to some dye. I bought the colour Opal, which is actually more of a turquoise, because I like a lot of this colour in my life. Yesterday I dyed the Merino/Bamboo/Soya in three colours and I am really excited about spinning and knitting socks with these. The colours are turquoise, blue and pink. I've done considerably more than the pink because I want to do some plain pink for cuffs, heels and toes. I want to have stripes with this yarn so I need to practise Navajo spinning and will be getting in contact with a spinner I know for help and advice. (She knows who she is...)

Spinning really is exciting, even when you have disappointments such as I have had with the Blue Faced Leicester. I've just learned that I need to add more dye, create more vibrant colours and see how that works out. A year ago when I started the blog I never would have imagined I could learn to spin wool, so I'm not just McKnitty, but also McSpinny now.

Another four days and I'm on holiday so I am hoping to do lots of spinning then. Shona is coming for the weekend to go camping with us again, which will be lovely. Esther is coming camping again as well, so we will be knitting and chatting outside again. It really is something to look forward to. Let's hope the weather is nice and sunny.